By TOM ASWELL

Contributing Writer

(Second of two parts)

BATON ROUGE – Gov. Bobby Jindal recently signed HB2, the capital outlay bill, and many projects were included for the River Parishes.

Priority 1 projects (listed in Wednesday’s newspaper) will bring more than $29.9 million into the River Parishes

Priority 2 projects for St. John Parish included $2.85 million for upgrading Globalplex Terminal Building 71; $575,000 for runway extension to the St. John the Baptist Parish Airport, and $1 million for year two of the Globalplex Intermodal access road and rail siding.

In St. James Parish, $1.5 million was appropriated for year two of parish land acquisition, and $150,000 was included in Priority appropriations for the St. Charles public health facility in Norco.

Priority 5, or fifth-year appropriations included:

• $7.8 million for the Globalplex Intermodal access road and rail siding in St. John the Baptist Parish;

• $1.8 million for renovations to the HVAC and security systems at the Garyville Timbermill Museum;

• $2.5 million for St. James land acquisition.

St. John, St. Charles, and St. James parishes were also part of multi-parish Priority appropriations. These include:

• $17.85 million for dock improvements, office space and housing for the parishes of St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, St. Mary, Terrebonne, and West Baton Rouge. An in-kind local match of $29.85 million is required for the state appropriation;

• $2.4 million for a flood study from Donaldsonville to the Gulf of Mexico. A federal match of $3.5 million and a $1.1 million local match will also fund the project for the three parishes and Ascension, Assumption, Jefferson, and Lafourche;

• $1.4 million for the Louisiana Office of Business Development for an environmental, market and business analysis for the three parishes and Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Livingston, Orleans and St. Bernard;

• $100,000 for the Pontchartrain Levee District for a Mississippi River Levee multi-use trail for St. John, St. James, St. Charles, Ascension, East Baton Rouge, and Iberville.

St. Charles was part of another group of parishes approved for a Priority 1 appropriation of $7.3 million for construction of I-49 from I-220 in Shreveport to the Arkansas line and from Lafayette to the Westbank Expressway in Jefferson parish. Other parishes included in the appropriation include Caddo, Lafourche, Iberia, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Terrebonne.

Finally, St. Charles and St. James were among 10 parishes included in the $1.1 million Priority 1 appropriation for the Lighthouse for the Blind economic development project. The other parishes are St. Barnard, St. Tammany, Terrebonne, Washington, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans and Plaquemines.